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In this issue... |
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Welcome to another issue of the PM Exam tips newsletter.
How often do you practice for the PMP exams? Just as a golfer must learn to "drive" and "put" before
they ever step onto a 18 hole golf course, the PMP Applicant must also
learn the mechanics of taking the exam and what to expect when they
arrive on game day. Employing multiple study methods may give you a
triangulated understanding of the material as well as illuminating what
you do know and what you don't know. Being able to answer PMP Exam
sample questions is crucial to your exam success. Simple? In concept;
yes. After all, the PMP exam has only multiple choice questions. Read more about how practicing for the PMP exams can help you get that PMP behind your name below..
Don't miss your weekly dose of sample PMP Exam Q and A, tips and lessons learned from successful PMP Exam passers.
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
President, OSP International LLC
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Recommended Study Materials
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 PMP in Depth: Project Management Professional Study Guide for the PMP Exam 2nd Edition by Paul Sanghera
If you're searching for the right PMP study guide to help you pass the PMP Exam, PMP in Depth: Project Management Professional Study Guide for the PMP Exam will get you on the right track (Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate). The material is intelligently presented in a logical sequence so you won't have to hop from topic to topic.
Paul's primary goal is to help you easily pass the PMP exam. Thus, this book has laser-sharp focus on the exam objectives that are beneficial to all project managers.
The book's chapters and sections within each chapter are presented in a logical learning order: A topic and a chapter only depend upon the previously covered topics and chapters.The concepts and topics, both simple and complex, are clearly explained when they appear for the first time. No prior knowledge of project management by the reader was assumed; therefore, the book was written to be easily understood by anyone. It also includes a full-length practice exam with fully explained answers.
PMP in Depth: Project Management Professional Study Guide for the PMP Exam provides easy, step-by-step instruction for you and other project managers who want to quickly learn the fundamentals of project management and pass the exam with flying colors.
To get your own copy, click here!
Full Disclosure: PMP in Depth: Project Management Professional Study Guide for the PMP Exam is an affiliate product. If you click and choose to purchase the book, we will earn a commission.
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Practice All Question Types to Pass the PMP Exam
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Anyone who has sat for the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam knows that studying the PMBOK Guide and having 35 Contact Hours is just not enough. When you talk to them about the PMP Exam, they will tell you it covers a lot of ground and the questions are not as straightforward as one would hope. Of the ones that have passed the exam, an overwhelming percentage of them will tell you that they used more than just one study method.
Just as a golfer must learn to "drive" and "put" before they ever step onto a 18 hole golf course, the PMP Applicant must also learn the mechanics of taking the exam and what to expect when they arrive on game day. Employing multiple study methods may give you a triangulated understanding of the material as well as illuminating what you do know and what you don't know.
Being able to answer PMP Exam sample questions is crucial to your exam success. Simple? In concept; yes. After all, the PMP exam has only multiple choice questions. However, there are a number of question styles; each has their purpose and caveats, which makes knowing how to get the most of each question exponentially crucial.
Let's jump into the PMP Exam question types:
FORMULA based questions are more than just 'solving for the median' or calculating earned value. There are around 49 PMP exam formulas that you must know backwards and forwards in order to pass the PMP Exam. Understanding them thoroughly down to the importance of each element will give you the decision making criteria to include or exclude the values in the PMP exam question.
SITUATIONAL questions test your ability to apply theoretical know how to real life project management situations. Often, these questions tend to be very long winded. The idea behind this is that in real life you will be handed both relevant and irrelevant information. Your task is to identify what's relevant, ignore what doesn't matter and then act upon the real issues. Be sure to read and accurately identify the actual question being asked of you, so that you can eliminate the useless information.
Often, situational questions will offer two choices which are both reasonably correct, so it's vital that you identify if the question is asking you the BEST choice, or the NEXT choice, or the EXCEPTION, or the ONLY answer.
KNOWLEDGE based questions require you to identify the meaning of the situation based on your understanding of the facts provided. These questions also occasionally ask "What is the exception?"; e.g. 'Group brainstorming encourages all of the following except:'
Knowledge based question may also ask you to identify an example chart or graph, such as recognizing a RACI or Pareto chart.
INTERPRETATIONAL questions test your ability to deduce a situation or condition from the description of a status or problem. For example: "If your project has an SPI and a CPI both greater than 1, how well is your project performing?" To solve this, you will need to know how SPI and CPI relate to the project's performance.
SPECIFIC TECHNIQUE questions will provide a snap shot of a situation, like a network diagram, and ask you to provide an element that's inherent in that diagram such as forward pass or backward pass.
PMBOK GUIDE KNOWLEDGE questions test your familiarity of specific areas, such as "Which of these processes are not part of the Initiating Process Group?" or "What are the inputs to the Create WBS process?
You need to answer dozens of samples from each question type before you will feel ready to tackle the exam. But how and where do you find good PMP mock exams?
There are many free PMP sample questions available just one short Google search away. However, you want to be very careful, because with free mock questions more times than not, the old adage "You get what you pay for" applies.
The best way to practice sample questions is by signing up to an online PMP exam simulator. You can access the questions over the internet from anywhere and on your schedule. Be sure the questions were created based on the most recent version of the PMBOK Guide. The question population should be a good mix of the types as well as cover all PMBOK Guide concepts.
So, there you have it. If you want to pass the PMP exam, you need to learn about the different types of questions that appear on the exam and practice them using a high-quality online PMP Exam simulator. Once you know how to identify the real question being asked from each of these question types, you'll greatly increase the odds of arriving at the correct answer. I know this sounds simplistic, but it is no small task because you'll need to be able to recall and apply all the theoretical knowledge required, combine it with your own project management experience and relate this to the question at hand.
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Answer at least 1,000 PMP Exam Sample Questions
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 The most important activity as you are preparing for your PMP Exam is to take as many sample questions as possible.
Watch this video we have prepared for you: http://bit.ly/hbcI2z
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Sample PMP Exam Question
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The following PMP exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com
A custom jewelry manufacturing company took up a project to design and manufacture a necklace for an affluent personality. While in execution, during a metrics analysis meeting, the project team started to analyze the reasons for variations in the project's key performance metrics. The concern was the cost of quality that had been increasing for the past seven weeks. The first milestone (design of the necklace) is supposed to be delivered in another two days and the project manager is not comfortable with the trend. The team performed an analysis and identified that most of the defects seen surfaced during the requirements phase. Despite the deficiencies that surfaced during the requirements phase, the design activity was still started. Though the tasks were clearly defined with objectives, the business analyst had been released with a good performance rating. There was no way the details on requirements could be gathered except from the requirements document, which was not complete.
Which of the following failed in the above scenario?
A.) Setting expectations and team performance assessment
B.) Setting expectations but not team performance assessment
C.) Only team performance assessment
D.) WBS decomposition
Hint: The teams assessment was not performed properly
All our questions are updated to the latest PMBOK Guide standard. Stop by at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com and try the PMP Exam Simulator free for 3 days. We also offer 110 free questions at http://www.free-pm-exam-questions.com. We are a PMI Registered Education Provider.
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Exam Tip: PMP Exam Tip: Interpersonal Skills a PMP Needs: 3. Motivation
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In Appendix G, the PMBOK Guide discusses Interpersonal Skills for the project manager. We are currently reviewing these one by one in our weekly PMP exam tip. This week we are looking at why it's important for you to become a "master motivator":
If you want to ensure the success of your project, you should work on developing your motivation skills. Having these skills will help that your project team members stay interested in the project, want to their best, and work toward the common goal.
Good skills as a motivator will allow you to create an environment that allows team members to meet the objectives of the project while simultaneously being satisfied with the work they are accomplishing.
Usually, being a good motivator and PMP is all about knowing how each individual member can be motivated. Some will do better work if they are challenged while others need to be reassured that they are doing good work. Other ways to provide motivation is through public praise or financial compensation.
Everyone is motivated differently. Your project will be much more successful if you can determine what motivates your team and act on it.
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Solution
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 The correct answer is C
Explanation: Setting expectations did not fail as the scenario clearly indicates that the tasks and objectives were defined and the WBS decomposition is clearly not at fault either.
The correct choice is C as team performance assessment is measured in terms of timely completion of tasks, success on agreed objectives and results that are achieved by the team members. Since the team performance assessment was not done for the business analyst, the rating was give as good even though his task were not completed. More over this ignorance by the project manager has impacted the whole teams performance.
Reference: PMBOK4 - pg: 235, Section 9.3.3.1
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Lessons Learned from Kuldeep Sharma
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I passed PMP exam on Aug 20.
It took me 7 weeks to prepare for PMP and pass the exam. I started to prepare for exam in the last week on July. The first thing I did was ordered Cornelius Fichtner PMP course for 36 contact hours requirement. Next thing was to fill the PMP application and submit the same. Read more here.. |
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